I start off Number 8 with a very simple question: Does anybody who has completed Final Fantasy IX dislike Beatrix? I emphasise the word "completed" as if you're only halfway through and she's merrily blasting you down to 1 HP while calling you an insect, then no doubt you're not her biggest fan.

I say themes, because it does appear in two songs on the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack, and I'm including them both because I want to show you how the same song can have such different meanings. Here's the first one, Rose of May:


Neither fast nor slow in tempo, this is a purely piano piece that stays with you. Everybody I've spoken to says the song makes them feel differently. Some say it is a sad song, others say it is more stoic or proud, and others still say it is calm and peaceful. As for your humble narrator, it makes me think of courage, but it is rather sad too, I feel.

An interesting piece of trivia for this song is that it is often called "Loss of Me", amusingly results from a bit of Engrish. It's actually a really fitting title for Beatrix, given who she is and her storyline.

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Recently we reported that Final Fantasy XIV’s development team just released some screenshots for the PS3 version. Now, producer Naoki Yoshida and UI developer Hiroshi Minagawa released more details about the PS3 version and its development to a Japanese news site, as well as information on new content for A Realm Reborn. An intrepid translator from the FFXIV forums provided an unofficial translation of the lengthy interview here and here. It is long and often quite technical, so here’s the significant points that I saw:

According to Yoshida, the PS3 version is about 80% done, with mostly technical tweaks to go. The PS3 graphics settings are planned to be comparable to medium settings on the PC version, which is as high as they can go on a PS3 MMORPG as big as FFXIV. It will likely not ever be possible to have a full HD display on the PS3 version.

Minagawa and Yoshi-P both commented on changes to the UI and further development of the PS3 version. A lot of the changes to the UI are based on applying a global standard for MMO controls, at least to the keyboard and mouse. There will ...

The PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is still alive and kicking! Square Enix just released some screenshots on their blog for the PS3 version of this game! With this new reveal they wanted to show off the UI, that's user interface for all those who don't know. They are keen on keeping players happy this time around so the first step is to allow players to highly customize their UIs. You can disable, enable, re-position what you want.


They truly wanted the PS3 gamer to feel more on par with the PC when it came to graphics. Pushing PS3 through its paces, it will be just as graphically gorgeous as its PC ...

Hello again friends. What's that? Is it time for another showcase of Final Fantasy fan art? You bet it is! This week, we have five pieces to share! Not a lot compared to what we had in the previous week, but still enough to enjoy and appreciate. Remember to visit the sources if you want to compliment the artists for their artwork. Without further ado, let's take a look at our showcase.

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Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida released another Letter from the Producer regarding the development progress of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

According to Yoshida, the development team is in the “final stages” of preparing the alpha test version of FFXIV 2.0. The alpha test is currently on track to start sometime around the end of October, just a few weeks away.

The rest of the Letter is devoted to detailing the results of the Player’s Poll from last month, where Yoshi asked if anyone would want to play on FFXIV 1.0 after November, even if that data did not carry over into A Realm Reborn. Yoshi said he was planning on reopening the 1.0 servers if 30% said “yes,” and so a few days after the servers are taken down on November 11, 2012, they will be coming back up! However, Yoshida cautioned that if the login numbers drop below 30% of the current players, then the servers can be taken back down.

But it seems like good news for people who are not alpha testers: you can continue ...

So Square-Enix in North America have been pretty cool with us lately and decided to send us a bunch of limited edition Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary posters. [IMG]http://www.eyesonff.com/BoB/25th-anniversary-poster.jpg[/IMG]
Want one? You can get one!

We're giving away 40 of these gorgeous 20" x 28" posters. It'll be a couple of weeks before the deadline and we'll be posting easy and simple ways you can improve your chances of winning over those two weeks. In order to apply, just post in this thread stating that you would like a poster. Winners will be advised via Private Message around 14-16 days from now at which point we will collect addresses for shipping of the posters (we can ship internationally, this isn't exclusive to North America). The methods of improving your chances will be posted into this thread, so keep checking back! ...

Final Fantasy XIII is a game that's divided Final Fantasy fans, and Snow is very fitting for a game like this, as he too seems to be either loved or hated. Regardless of how you feel about him as a character or FFXIII as a game, I hope you can agree with me that he has one awesome theme.


Pure rock 'n' roll. This song is dripping with both attitude and rebellion. Does the bold, brash nature of the piece remind you of a certain irrepressible, fiery young man who leads team NORA?

It's not ever going to be the kind of song whose melody gets stuck in your head, but as you listen to it, I'm sure you can feel your head slowly bob up and down. It also seems like perfect driving music, be it hurtling down the highway at noon, or cruising through the city at night.

I also want to note that it would not be out of place in a Dynasty Warriors game at all! Anyway, let's have a look at other versions.


This is from YouTube user JillxxxValentineRE1 and I just want to say - he is phenomenal and has a huge amount of talent. This version ...

Today, Square-Enix published an announcement on The Lodestone detailing some changes to items and money in A Realm Reborn. Here are some highlights:

As we covered previously, FFXIV 2.0 will reduce all players’ gil and all NPC item costs to 1/10 of its current value. This is being done because some cheap consumable items, such as arrows, will be removed. The new announcement clarifies that this is only a general guideline, and rebalancing issues may result in some deviations in this formula for specific items and services. Additionally, we reported in the last Letter from the Producer III, total inventory slots will be reduced to the original 100. However, any items a player has in excess of the new 100 slot limit will not be lost. Instead, the items will be given to a special NPC, and the player can speak to it in order to regain the items at his convenience.

Player-operated bazaars will also be closing, and all items and gil will be put in the player’s inventory. Because the current cap for crystals in the inventory, 9,999, will not be changed, any crystals a player ...

Last month we brought you some info on an iOS rhythm game from Square Enix and iNiS - the guys behind Elite Beat Agents. Demon's Score looks like another enjoyable rhythm based game, perhaps an attempt to revive the genre. But Square Enix also seems to be using it to screw over its Western fanbase.


While the initial $6.99 price tag for Demon's Score looks relatively affordable -- especially compared to the ~$19.99 price in Japan -- it is actually a trap. Cue Admiral Ackbar. The actual version released to western audiences is heavily scaled back, with a number of DLCs required to actually unlock the full game. Japanese customers are saved the hassle in their one-time fee, but western gamers are going to be forced to buy $2.99 and $3.99 DLCs if they want the same experience, totally somewhere around $40 for the same ...

The Final Fantasy XIV development team has dropped some interesting tidbits on the official forums recently. Most noteworthy is that A Realm Reborn will feature new worlds that target new players. Current players will not be able to transfer their characters to the new worlds for a while, but will be able to create new characters there. New players will still be able to choose an existing or non-newbie’d server to join. With the news about regional servers, presumably each region will have at least one sever dedicated to new characters.

Good idea or bad idea? It looks like Squeenix is trying to allow new worlds for new characters to develop their own economies independent of everything that already exists. Whether that will be successful or not or even whether that’s a good thing remains to be seen. Eventually, it looks like a world transfer system similar to the one used in Final Fantasy XI is planned, where you can pay to transfer a character between servers.

Additionally, today the subtitled ...

As an introduction to this, I'm going to be doing a regular blog update, each one about a different Final Fantasy character's theme as part of the 25th Anniversary Celebrations. Although some of us don't have the time or desire to play through a big long FF game anymore, I think we can all take a couple of minutes to listen to some great music and feel nostalgic. I'll be satisfied even if you skip over my words and just have the songs playing in the background as you go about your internet business.

First up, we have Bartz's theme.


For those of you who don't know who Bartz is, or even those who do, hop on over to this thread. It's incredible. Anyway, Bartz is the main character of FFV and like all good heroes, his parents have sadly died prior to the game. This song is called "My Home, Sweet Home", and plays when you return to his home village of Lix.

The song itself is really poignant and evokes memories, which is relevant to Bartz given his past, but I also think it would evoke memories in the listener. It makes me remember my childhood and my home.
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Square-Enix in response to Gematsu has recently been quoted saying,

It joins the list of KH games including Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Final Mix 2 to not see release outside of Japan. We will continue to follow this topic as it develops, but judging by previous experiences it seems unlikely that this game will reach the international market. Is Square-Enix shooting itself in the foot by continued alienation of its fanbase outside of Japan? ...

The Tokyo Game Show has begun, and a new trailer has been released for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Check it out!


It’s not all gameplay footage like the last awesome trailer, and doesn’t show a whole lot that's really new, which is kind of disappointing. But you can definitely see the massive new environments, the very fast-paced battle system, and, most importantly, chocobos!

For those of you eagerly awaiting information on the PS3 release: while we were originally promised more details during the TSG, it looks like that announcement will not be made until October. We’ll have more details as they become available. ...

If you didn't know, the annual Tokyo Game Show is going on right now. Lately, the show has been more and more about mobile games, but we still occasionally get new(ish) game announcements. Like this one.

Revealed in Famitsu magazine, this PS3 collection includes HD versions of KH Final Mix and Re: Chain of Memories. It also has all the cutscenes from KH 358/2 days re-made in HD for your viewing pleasure.

It's set to come out in Japan next year. TGS has just started, so keep an eye out for more news on the various Square Enix franchises.


Official Site (Japanese) ...